Beaufort ties with Hammondsport, N.Y. for the #1 spot!

• This year’s Coolest Small Towns in America contest had a tie for first: Hammondsport, N.Y. (shown above), and Beaufort, N.C. (Arion Doerr)

We logged 368,000 votes in our seventh annual contest to choose the best hometown escapes in America. This year’s twist? A nail-biter of a finish that crashed our website (temporarily, of course!) and resulted in our first-ever tie for first place.

What’s your idea of cool? How about a place where the local dump doubles as an art gallery. Or a town that’s helped spawn a major foodie movement. A Gold Rush outpost with an unsung history of ethnic tolerance would certainly qualify, right?

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/09/05/10-coolest-small-towns-in-america-2012/#ixzz29no0yNYI

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